Stitch transfer mechanism for knitting machines



March 15, 1938. H. MCADAMS 2,111,476

STITCH TRANSFER MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES Filed March l2,1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

Hal-'1" 1 M AdETTLS B Z 4% '1 r I\T TORNE s.

' March 15, 1938. H. MCADAMS' 2,111,476

STITCH TRANSFER MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES Filed March 12, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 F lG. -2.

FIG. 12.

50 M gm o INVENTOR.

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Patented Mar. 15, 1938 UNITED STATES STITCH TRANSFER MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES Harry McAdams, Reading, Pa, assignor to The Nolde & Horst Company, Reading, Pa., a corporatiom Application March 12, 1936, Serial No. 68,526

6 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in knitting machines, and has particular reference to an improved dial needle for use upon rib knitting machines capable of transferring stitch a loops from cylinder needles to dial needles, and

vice versa.

The primhry object of the invention is the provision of an improved knitting machine needle, which may be either of the dial or cylinder type, having an improved stitch loop expanding eye and associated stitch loop extending shoulder thereon capable of expanding and extending a stitch loop so that it may be transferred to a complementary needle of another set of needles, without the use of transfer bits or other relatively movable parts.

A further object of the invention is the. provision of an improved knitting machine needle having a loop expanding construction thereon by means of which a stitch loop may be expanded and extended for disposal upon another needle; the loop expanding construction being of such nature that it may be resiliently compressed to the normal width of the body of the needle.

A further object of the invention is the provision of an improved knitting machine having complementary cylinder and dial needle sets in which needles of the cylinder set are directly opposed to needles in the dial set; the latter being provided with improved means to effect a stitch transfer from dial needle to cylinder needle without the necessity of appreciable needle shifting, and without the use of relatively movable stitch transfer bits or'other associated parts.

35 Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent during the course of the following detailed description.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and wherein similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views,

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view taken through a cylinder and dial construction of the improved knitting machine, showing the associated features thereof.

Figure 2 is an enlarged plan view of the dial bed of the machine, enlarged to approximately twice normal size, and having the improved dial needles associated therewith; the dot and dash lines designating the normal butt directing grooves in the dial cap.

Figures 3, 4 and 5 designate a typical dial and cylinder needle in a series of steps to effect the transfer of a stitch loop from a dial needle to a cylinder needle.

, Figure 6 is an inverted plan view of the dial cap, showing the needle butt directing groove and movable cam arrangement.

Figures '7, 8 and 9 are respectively views showing in top plan, side elevation, and opposed side elevation the improved dial needle.

Figures 10, 11 and 12 are bottom plan views of the improved dial needle, showing respectively the normal position of parts of the needle when projected in stitch transfer relation; the position of the parts when retracted fully in the groove of the needle, and a view with the resilient loop opening arm forming part of the eye of the needle distorted slightly to designate its association With the body and other parts of the needle.

Figure 13 is a-perspective view of the improved dial needle with a resilient loop expanding arm associated as an integral part thereof cut away to show the grooved construction of the loop expanding eye provided in the body of the needle.

Figure '14 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken substantially on the line I tl t of Figure 8, through the loop expanding eye of the needle.

Figure 15 is a view showing how the improved loop expanding eye or construction may be likewise adaptable for use upon a cylinder needle where it is intended to use the knitting machine for transfer of stitch loops from cylinder needles to dial needles.

In the drawings, wherein for the purpose of illustration is shown a preferred embodiment of theinvention, the letter A may generally designate a knitting machine, which may include a rotating cylinder B and a rotatable dial bed 0. The cylinder B may have an associated set of cylinder needles D and the usual and appropriate means for actuating the same, which may include suitable cams E and E and jacks F if desired.

v A set of dial needles are provided for use in the grooved dial bed 0. These dial needles may be appropriately designated by the numeral 20. As part of the dial a stationary grooved cap G is used. 'Suitable yarn feed fingers H are provided for feedingv various yarns to the dial and cylinder needles. The other associated parts of a knittting machine may be used, such as a latch ring K and web holder and sinker construction L.

The knitting machine upon which used may be of the general character of the Banner type of machine shown in U. S. Patent No. 933,443, or if desired the knitting machine may be of a stationary cylinder type with a revoluble cam s-et. Preferably the knitting machine is of the type disclosed in my U. S. application, Serial No. 755,621, filed December 1, 1934 or of the character embodied in my more recently developed machine for automatically knitting continuous strings of stockings with interchange of stitches between cylinder and dial needles and vice versa, shown in my U. S. application Serial No. 86,420, filed June 20, 1936.

In my prior filed U. S. application Serial No. 755,621, filed December 1, 1934 and Serial No. 729,655, filed June 8, 1934, I have shown the associated use of transfer bits with dial needles in order to effect the loop expanding and extension of the stitch loop for transfer to the needles of another set. In the present application I do away with this by means of an improved construction of the needle itself, without weakening the needle; without interfering with 1 needle receiving grooves 21.

its normal knitting function, and without increasing the normal thickness or width of the needle, so that with the needle fine gauge knitted work may be accomplished.

The dial bed C as shown in Figure 1 of the drawings, may be keyed as at to the dial drive shaft 26. The upper surface of the dial bed C may be grooved as in usual manner with dial These grooves are of normal thickness so that a large number of needles may be used in the dial for the knitting of fine gauge work. These grooves 21 are radially disposed and each for their major length are of the same width; They enlarge at their fore ends 28, as is usual.

The dial cap G is shown inverted in Figure 6 of the drawings, and the groove and cam arrangement is shown in dot and dash lines in normal relation to the dial bed and needle butt arrangement in Figure 2 of the drawings. Thus, the dial cap G may have a groove wherein the butts of the dial needles travel in the direction indicated by the arrows in Figures 2 and 6 of the drawings. Stationary stitch knitting and stitch transfer cams 3| and 32 respectively are provided for directing the dial needles into stitch forming and stitch transfer relation along grooved paths 33 and 34. Compressible plunger cams 36 and 31 are provided on the cap G for deflecting the butts of the dial needles into grooves 33 and 34 respectively against the stationary cams 3| and 32. These plunger cams 3G and 3'! are actuated by plungermechanism, such as shown at 33 in Figure 1 of the drawings, and has been more specifically described in my co-pending applications Serial Nos. 588,798, filed August 22, 1931, and 755,621, filed December 1, 1934.

The improved dial needle 20 includes a body of normal needle thicknessand height having a reduced forward end ll provided with the loop receiving hook 42. 'Preferably the needle is of the latch type and has a latch 44. Intermediate its ends the body 40 has preferably upstanding butts which may be either long, short, or medium, as desired. The lower section of the body 40 at one side is provided with a resilient and yieldable loop expanding arm 50, in height preferably one-half of the height of the body 40, and in thickness preferably onehalf of the thickness of the body. It may be formed by splitting the body 40, or by grooving the body 40 and soldering the arm in place at 5|. It extends forwardly along the side of the body, relatively disconnected therefrom, so that it may be resilient-1y flexed against the body to provide with the body a thickness which is no more than the normal thickness of the body .9

and no more than the normal thickness of a conventional dial needle.

The body 40 at the side thereof facing the arm 50 near the reduced portion 41 is concavely recessed, as shown at in the drawings, from the extreme lower edge thereof preferably to the top edge of the body 40. This recess, due to the thickness of the body at this location, is preferably less than one-half of the normal thickness of the body 40 in order that the dial needle may be disposed substantially opposite a complementary cylinder needle which is to be inserted through the eye of which the recess 60 is a part, without the necessity of relative lateral shift of the cylinder or dialneedles, although such shift may be accomplished if desired in accordance with the arrangement which I have developed and set forth in my application Serial No. 86,420, filed June 20, 1936.

The front end of the loop expanding arm 50 is normally bowed outwardly at 65, in facing relation with the recess 60, to provide therewith the loop opening or expanding eye through which the cylinder needle D is extended, as shown in Figure 4 of the drawings, to receive the stitch loop 10. The fore end of the body 40 is provided with an upwardly and rearwardly sloping stitch loop engaging and expanding shoulder II at a location which is rearwardly of the tip end of the latch end of the needle when the latch is fully opened, and the extreme free end of the resilient arm 50 is likewise sloped in the same plane with this shoulder II and flush therewith.

The lower edge of the needle 20 Just forwardly of the shoulder II is entirely cut away at 80 to receive an under-hanging lip 8| which is provided at the lower edge on the fore end of the spring arm 50; said lip underlying the dial needle in this recess, as shown in Figures 10 and 11 of the drawings, so that the arm 50 at its forward free end may effectively take the stitch loop and move it with exactness into proper expanded and extended position upon the eye and against the shoulder of the needle for definite and certain transfer position, as to all of the dial needles with respect to the complementary cylinder needles. A portion of the wall of the body of the dial needle facing the bowed end of the resilient arm 50 may be removed at 84, shown in Figures 9 and 14 of the drawings, although not for as great a height as the height of the arm portion 65. This facilitates stitch application to the eye and facile insertion and withdrawal of the cylinder needle.

The normal position of the loop expanding arm 50 relative to the body of the needle is shown in Figures 7 and 10 of the drawings, and in this position the lip 8| underlies slightly in the lower recessed edgeof the body of the dial needle. Sliding in the groove of the dial bed the loop receiving eye opening is only expanded sufficiently to receive the cylinder' needle when the dial needle is projected by the cams 31 and 32 to the positions shown in the left hand portion of Figure 2 of the drawings. In retracted position the bowed portion 65 of the resilient arm 50 is compressed fiat against the recessed wall of the body of the dial needle so that the maximum width of the dial needle at this loop expanding eye is then no greater than the maximum width of the body 40 of the dial needle, as can readily be understood in the retracted positions of the dial needles shown in the grooves of the dial bed in Figure 2 of the drawings.

I Solid black butts shown in Figure 2 of the drawings are the long butts, and the blank butts are the short butts. The cam 31 is depressed part-way and first moves the long butt dial needles into the transfer position shown in the left hand portion of Figure 2. The plunger cam 32 projects the dial needles so that their loop expanding eyes are extended beyond the periphery of the dial, and in superposed relation over the complementary cylinder needles. The cylinder needles are elevated by appropriate cam means E after the manner substantially described in my co-pending application Serial No. 755,621, filed December 1/1934, to receive the stitch loops 10. As shown in Figure 4 of the drawings the stitch loop 10 is expanded by the eye of the dial needle and rests against the shoulder II. Note'that no part of the stitch loop is interfered with by the arm 50 or by the body of the dial needle as to impede its effective extension and expansion for proper reception with respect to the cylinder needle which is to receive it. After insertion of the cylinder needle into the eye of the dial needle the loop slips with facility onto the cylinder needle, and upon retraction of the dial needle the stitch will entirely clear without catching on any part of the dial needle, as can well be understood from Figures 4 and 5 of the drawings.

As shown in Figure 2 of the drawings the cylinder needles are preferably provided in number twice the amount of the dial needles. The arrangement is substantially the same and for the same purposes as set forth in my above mentioned co-pending application Serial No. 755,621, filed December 1, 1934. However, the dial needles are preferably almost directly onposite alternating cylinder needles and these cylinder needles are the ones which are inactive during one and one rib knitting. They are only active during plain knitting when for the most part the knitting is done on the cylinder needles, and it is to these cylinder needles that stitches of the dial needles are to be transferred when transferring from rib knitting to plain knitting. The fact that dial needles may be placed substantially opposite the cylinder needles which are to receive stitches therefrom is made possible I by reason of the improved loop expanding eye r construction of the dial needle.

It is of course to be understood that I contemplate to make a cylinder needle having a loop expanding eye and shoulder arrangement similar to the above described for the dial needle, and such a cylinder needle has been shown in Figure of the drawings. The parts of this cylinder needle are substantially identically the same with the similar parts of the dial needle, and similar reference characters have been applied thereto except that the exponents a. have been added to. designate corresponding parts of the cylinder needle. The transfer of stitch loops from cylinder needles to dial needles 'has been effectively described in my above identified copending application Serial No. 755,621, filed December 1, 1934, and the same arrangement may be. used with the modified cylinder needle of the present application.

From the foregoing it can be seen that an improved dial needle has been provided with a construction integral therewith which will permit of the efficient transfer of a stitch. The natural resiliency of the spring arm spreads the loop of the stitch to about three times normal size when in transfer position. The disposal of the lip of the spring arm in the recess beneath the lower edge of the body of the needle permits the arm to efilciently enter the stitch without any chance of missing. In this connection it should be noted that this feature is of considerable importance because normally the stitch is drawn tight on top and at sides of the needle, due to the web take-up pull upon the fabric.

Various changes in the shape, size, and arrangement of parts may be made to the form of invention herein shown and described, without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. As an article of manufacture a knitting machine needle having a body portion provided with a stitch drawing hook thereon, the body portion having a cam actuating butt transversely positioned thereon and a stitch loop engaging shoulder facing the hook of the needle between said hook and said butt, the said body portion just 2. As an article of manufacture a knitting machine needle including a body portion having a stitch loop drawing hook thereon and a cam actuating butt, the needle bodybeing reduced at its forward end and providing a stitch loop engaging shoulder between the said butt and said hook in facing relation with the hook, a resilient stitch loopspreading arm connected with the body and extending forwardly thereof and at its free end terminating in a substantially flush relation with the said shoulder, the lower edge of the body below said shoulder being recessed and the said spring arm being provided with a stitch loop entering lip normally lying in the recess.

3. As an article of manufacture a knitting machine needle having a body portion provided with a stitch drawing hook thereon, and a yieldable spring arm mounted upon a side of the body portion with a resilient portion extending freely forwardly towards the hook end of the body portion to provide a needle entering eye, said resilient portion of the arm directly facing the side wall of the body portion of the needle, the bed facing edge of the body portion having a niche therein, and the free end of the arm having a lip portion extending laterally in normally socketed relation within said niche and extensible out of saidniche only when forced against its normal tendency to do so.

4. As an article of manufacture a knitting machine needle having a body portion provided with a stitch drawing hook thereon, and a yieldable spring arm mounted upon a side of the body portion with a resilient portion extending freely forwardly towards the hook end of the body portion to provide a needle entering eye, said resilient portion of the arm directly facing the side wall of the body portion of the needle, the bed facing edge of the body portion having a niche therein, and the free end of the arm having a lip portion extending laterally in normally socketed relation within said niche and extensible out of said niche only when forced against its normal tendency to do so, the side wall of the body portion of the needle facing said resilient portion of the arm being laterally recessed through a portion of the thickness thereof, and said body portion being notched in the bed facing edge thereof through its entire thickness directly at said recessed portion.

5. As an article of manufacture a knitting machine needle having a body portion and provided with a stitch drawing hook thereon, said body portion in a side wall thereof being recessed thru a portion of the thickness thereof to facilitate the close entry of a needle moving transverse to the said body portion, said body portion being notched thru the thickness thereof directly at said recess from the edge of said body portion opposite the normal butt edge thereof, and a spring stitch spreading arm mounted on the said side of the body portion of the needle provided with a free forwardly extending resilient arm directly facing the said recess and notch.

6. As an article of manufacture a knitting machine needle having a body portion provided with a stitch drawing hook thereon, and a yieldable spring arm mounted upon a side of the body portion with a resilient portion extending freely forwardly towards the hook end of the body portion, the side wall of the body portion facing said resilient portion of the arm being laterally recessed to provide with the resilient portion of the arm a needle entering eye, the body portion of the needle forwardly of said recess having a niche therein and the free end of the arm slidably extending into said niche and normally socketed therein when the needle is in a needle bed, the said arm being mounted upon the body portion so as not to increase the normal thickness of the body portion and the resilient portion of the arm being collapsible into the recess of the body portion when in the groove of a needle bed.

HARRY McADAMS. 

